“We're not talking about pitching in, we're talking about institutionalized rape. We're talking about the government taking full control over your body--what it's for, what you do with it, and what other people can do to it. I'm not letting some horny old dude screw me just because the law says I have to. - Xochi”

“We're [Luxenbenites] not talking about the emotional drivel your romanticists have fantasized. We're talking about nature's actual laws. The hard and fast rules every species has to observe. The ones you've so scrupulously ignored.”

“It doesn't matter how many they kill," I told him. "And it's not awesome-it's wrong.""Then why do you talk about them all the time?" asked Max."Because wrong is interesting.”

“We're taking you to the hospital,' it said, 'you're going into shock. Can you tell us how you feel?''I feel ...' What do I feel?I guess that's good enough.I feel.”

“It's not enough, is it? Just to follow; just to have faith in someone bigger and smarter and better informed. That's how we're built, that's how every Partial is wired - to follow orders and trust in our leaders - but it's not enough. It never has been. We've followed our leaders, and sometimes they win and sometimes they lose; we do what they say and we play our part. But this is our decision. Our mission. And when we're done, it will be our victory, or our defeat. I don't want to fail, but if I do, I want to be able to look back and say, 'I did that. I failed. That was all me.”

“Fear is about things that you can't control. The future or the dark, or someone trying to kill you. You don't get scared of yourself because you always know what you're going to do.”

“I'm on the edge, Neblin, I'm off the edge - I'm over the edge and falling into hell on the other side.''Calm down, John,' he said. 'We can work through this. Just tell me where you are.''I'm down in the cracks of the sidewalks,' I said, 'in the dirt and in the blood, and the ants are looking up and we're damning you all, Neblin. I'm down in the cracks and I can't get out.”